Trick or Treat by Mother Nature? More like a Trick...

It's not even Halloween in the United States, yet the Northeast is experiencing it's first significant snowfall of the year as a fluke Nor'Easter is hitting. For those who don't know what a New England Nor'Easter is, here's the definition in a nutshell - a warm and moisture filled-storm heading up the eastern seaboard of the United States comes into contact with a drainage of cold dry air whipping in from the Northeast, creating a hurricane like effect circling the area, and the combination of the two conflicting forces creates a significant amount of precipation in its path.

The effects are compounded and more noticeable during winter time when the cold air creates wet mushy snow rather than the light powder. You can imagine how annoying that gets for people around the area as it can cause power outages by downed power lines, closing of schools and other non-essential public services, and a backlog of traffic problems. Usually these do not occur until the full force of winter hits upon the area including colder temperatures and a shifting of the jet streams. Ironically the ideal conditions are temperatures just around the freezing mark (O celsius, 32 farenheit). For such a storm to develop and hit us so early in the season is a rare occurence, our plow and snow removal services aren't even fully prepared yet!

For a sample of this nuisance, take a look at the pictures below. Please don't mind the darkness, it's evening, and my phone camera is not the highest resolution...

I guess Mother Nature decided to let me know that I won't be getting away that easy.... oh well.

Kent
2011 29AUG